Microsoft Edge, which is one of the best browsers for Windows,
is getting three new features in the next big update. Microsoft
appears to be testing a new web widgets feature, Chrome’s tabs
search and extension menu for the browser.
Widgets have been around for a long time on Android and it
looks like Windows 10 will also get support for widgets via
Microsoft Edge. The Redmond firm is currently testing news +
weather widget that will keep the latest headlines at your
fingertips with Bing’s MSN news feed and its simple but
effective widget if you like reading headlines.
The news widget for Microsoft Edge is based on the same
approach as
Windows 10’s upcoming taskbar news and weather
feed. It can show your personalized briefing, with
current popular stories relevant to your interests (like
sports, finance, etc) and/or location.
You can also close the browser and still access the widget by
clicking on the icon floating over your desktop and other
Windows apps.
At the moment, Microsoft is only experimenting with news feed
widget and it’s likely that more widgets will be introduced
later this year. According to
Microsoft, the web widget is part of a Controlled Feature
Roll-out (CFR) and only a subset of users have it available at
this time.
Tabs search
In addition to web widgets, Microsoft is also working on tabs
search support for Chromium Edge.
Like Google, Microsoft has been gradually adding features that
make it easier to manage a large number of tabs.
Last year, the company added support for ‘vertical tabs’ and a
new update will bring Chrome’s tabs search. As the name
suggests, this new feature will allow you to search for open
tabs.
As shown in the above screenshot, the tab search feature can be
accessed from the browser’s top bar.
Extension menu
Focused on simplicity, extensions menu is finally coming to
Microsoft Edge and it’ll be marked by a puzzle icon.
All the extensions can be accessed when you tap on the puzzle
icon. If you don’t like the new look, you can always pin the
extensions to the address bar.
